Apparatus for drilling deep wells



June 23, 1953 Original Fi A. ARUTUNOFF APPARATUS FOR DRILLING DEEP WELLSled Nov. 18, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. Armani Andy/702") ilg'bu mro EV.

Patented June 23, 1953 APPARATUS FOR DRILLING DEEP WELLS ArmaisArutunofi', Bartlesville, Okla.

Original application November 18, 1949, Serial No. 60,709. Divided andthis application May 16, 1951, Serial No. 226,578

2 Claims.

My invention relates to apparatus for drilling deep wells, and thepresent application is a division of my copending application Serial No.60,709, filed November 18, 1949, which in turn was acontinuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 711,959, filedNovember 23, 1946, now Patent No. 2,609,182.

In general, my invention relates to apparatus for drilling deep oil andgas wells, and it deals more particularly with a drilling unit suspendedon a cable, the upper end of the cable being connected to a suitablederrick or hoist at the surface so that it can be payed out as drillingprogresses. The drilling unit comprises a rotar drill and means forrotating the same, all suspended from said cable (the means for rotatingthe drill comprising an electric motor), and the present inventionrefers more particularly to a receptacle located at the lower end of thecable and above the drilling unit to catch refuse or debris that mayfall into the well bore from above the point at which the drillingoperation is taking place.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide a receptacle ofthis type which surrounds the connection of the cable with the drillingunit and yet is easily displaced with respect thereto to permit accessto the connection.

A further object is to provide a receptacle in which the upper or openend is of large area to promote more efficient collection of debris, or,as

it is known to the oil drilling industry, junk. In this connection, itis another object to provide means for reinforcing the upper edge of thereceptacle to resist accidental deformation under the impact of fallingrocks and the like.

With the above objects in view as well as others which will appear asthe description proceeds, my invention consists in the novel featuresherein set forth, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of my drilling apparatus, partlybroken away, showing the same located in a well bore,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the upper portionof the means for suspending the drilling unit from the cable,

Fig. 2a is a similar view of the lower portion thereof, the lowergripping means being shown in elevation and being partly broken away,

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2 in the direction ofthe arrows,

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is a similar view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2a, and

Fig. 6 is a similar view, taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2a.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the referencenumeral indicates a well bore in which my drilling unit is located. Thedrilling unit comprises an upper section I I, a section I 2 swiveledthereto, and a section l3 connected to the lower end of the section i2which contains the motor l for driving the drill I 6 through suitablereduction gearing, not shown. In the drawings, the drill is shown asbeing a core drill, although any other suitable drill may be utilized.

The upper section I l of the drilling tool is suspended from a weightsupporting cable ill. The cable I! is connected with the section II inthe manner illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, said section IIcomprising an open ended tubular portion l8, which is internallyscrewthreaded at l9 and is engaged at said threaded end portion by a nut20. The upper end of said tubular member 18 has a tubular guide member2| mounted centrally thereof, which is connected with the tubular memberI8 by means of cars 22. The member 2| is what is commonly referred to asa fishing neck. The cable I! extends through the member 2| and issecured to a bolt 23 by means of cable clamps 24 and 25, by means ofwhich said cable I! is formed into a loop 26 embracing the bolt 23. Thebolt 23 is mounted in a pair of upstanding ears 21 on an inner tubularmember 28 provided in the section I l, the tubular member 28 being fixedto the nut by means of a key 29 and a nut 30 screw-threadedly engagingwith the end thereof and seated against a shoulder 3| on the nut 20,said tubular member 28 also having an annular shoulder 32 thereon sothat said tubular member 28 is fixed by key 29 in position relative tothe tubular member l8 by means of the nut 30 clamping the shoulder 32against the nut 20.

A sleeve 33 surrounds the bolt 23 and a sheet metal guard member 35 ismounted between the sleeve 33 and the loop 26 formed in the cable [1.The cable I! is made in a similar manner to that shown in my abovereferred to copending application, in that it has an outer weightsustaining sheath, and mounted within said sheath is an insulatedelectrical cable 36. The cable 36 is connected with an insulated cable31 by a suitable splice 38. The electrical cable 3'! extends into thecentral passage 39 in the tubular member 28 and into the tubular swivelmember 40 carried by the tubular member 28. It will be noted that thetubular member 18 is removable from the member 20 and thus from themember 28 so as to provide ready access to the cable clamps and theelectrical connections within the same by merely unscrewing the samefrom the nut-like member 20 and sliding the sleeve-like member 2|upwardly on the cable l1. Also it will be noted that when the tubularmember 18 is in position as shown in Fig. 2 it is open at the topthereof so that any debris that may be loosened above the location ofthe drilling apparatus will-drop into the container provided by saidtubularmember 8, said container having a large chamber" 4| therein'thatconstitutes a debris or junk; basket.

The tubular member 28 is provided'with a cylindrical outer surface thatextends from the shoulder 32 to the portion 42 thereof. Thesnrface 44 isprovided with an annular groove 43 and a stop collar or ring 45 isseated in the groove 43. A pair of rings 45 and 41 aremountedforrelative rotation thereto .on the cylindrical outer face of themember'28. The rings 45 and 41 are the same in construction, except forthe'factthat these are reversed. Each of said; rings. has a plurality ofradial slots .48 therein, as shown in Fig. 4, and each has the ends of apair of bowed out springs 49 fixed theretolsee Figs. 2 and 4).

.The springs 49 are of such a curvature thatthese 46 and againstrotation in said well bore.

"The springs? and the rings 45 and. constitute part of. a grippingmeansfor holding the upper section H, which. constitutes the upper member ofa swivel connection, against rotation in the well bore. Said grippingmeans further comprises a plurality of shoes'lSB that may be referred toas torque shoes, in that theseshoes engage the wall of the well bore toprevent rotation of the tubular member 28 and thus of the upper sectionI I. of the well drilling device which might otherwise occur due to thetorque developed by the motor. IS in rotating the drill bit [6. Thememberi28 is provided with a plurality of longitudinally extendinggrooves- 53, which have a pair, of side-wallsv 52 and 53, the sidew'alls53 being inclined much more to theradial than the side walls 52.Each of the grooves furthermore has a partly cylindrical bottom wall 54,which serves as a socket for receiving the integral hinge pin portion 55on each ofthe shoes" 50. Each of said. shoes-50 alsohas a pair oflongitudinally elongated openings 56 therein adjacent the hinge pinportions'55 thereof and has athickened outer,end. 57, which .has faces58. and. 59 .thereon that meet at a sharp, corner. 60, soas. to providea gripping surface on each outerend .of said ..shoes adapted .to, engagethe wall. of .the bore. .to

prevent rotation. of themember 28in a counterclockwise direction asviewedin Fig.4.

.The shoes 50 aremoved into gripping position .upon. .any slightcounter-clockwise. rotation. of

the .member,28,relative to the rings 46 and 41 .by. means of theprojecting lugs or fingers 6 l .pro-

vided on,.each end of. each of the shoes. 50, which .operate in theradial slots 48. in .the rings 46. and

41. It will be obvious that .ifthe member: 28 is rotated. in.counter-clockwise direction" relative .to'the rings 45 or 41, as viewedin" Figs. 1 and 4,

. the gripping members 58.0utwardly into engagement with the wall of thebore.

As the forces that will be acting on the shoes 50 are very great, theconstruction of the mounting of the shoes must be quite rugged. For thatreason the pivot members of the shoes are mounted in the grooves in thethick tubular member 28 and are provided with strong retainingmembers-comprising the arcuate bars 62 that ..have,fiat end facesthatare welded face to face to the faces 52 and 53 of the grooves at 63and 64, respectively, said arcuate bars 62 passing through the openings56 in the members 50.

The tubular swivel member 40 is provided with .an. upper screw-threadedend portion 65 that is threaded into the internally threaded end portion66 of the member 28, and a stuffing box is -provided in: the upper endof said swivel member 40 comprising the compressible packing 61 and.the; gland member 68 that compresses the packing 61 between itself andthe annular shoulden 69 providing a reducedneck portion in the swivelmember .40 within which the cable 31 fits.

,Thepacking' 61 is. thus compressed around'the cable so as to provide aliquid tight joint around more clearly in Big. 5, comprise acentrarsubstantially circular contactlfi anda pair. of flat ring-likecontacts 11 .and 18. -The' contact .16 is mounted on the axis. of thecylindrical'member. 1 l. and thus on the axis of thexswivel member 40andthe ring. contacts 11 and .18 are concentric therewith. .Theconductor T4 'is' connected with .the central contact 16, the conductorI3 with the ring contact 11 and the conductor 15 with the ring contact18.

The member [2, which is swiveled on the member H, comprises an outertubular housing 19, with which. an upper head 80 is screw-threaded- .ly.connected at .oneend thereof, and a lower head',8l' isscrew-threadedly.connected at the other end thereof. .Thehead 80 has abearing portion 82 fitting the outer periphery of the tubular member 40,and said bearing portion is provided with .a plurality of. grooves 83,in which compressible sealing rings 84 are mounted. The

...head member 80.has an upwardly extending end .portionl85thatis'slightly reduced indiameter and .is provided with a cylindricalouter surface,

' the sealing ring 9| while the swivel member 40 has a'flanged collar'86 keyed thereto by means of a key 81 so as to rotate therewith, saidcollar having a depending annular flange, 88. overlapping '.thereducedupper end portion 85. of the head 80 ofthe member. l2

and having a groove therein, in which the com- 7 pressible. sealing ring89. is mounted. The. re-

taining ring 90, mountedin a groove inthe swivel member 45 holds. thecollar. 86:" from endwise .movement and..the"joint between the collar 86and the swivel member 40 is sealed by means of Anupper. ballthrustbearing 92 is'mounted'between the members Bland vided on thetubular housing I9 and thus rotating with the member I2 and grounded tosaid member 80 and thus to the metallic parts of the drilling apparatusand the outer sheath of the cable A spring pressed contact 94 is mountedin a recess in the collar 86 and a conductor 95 extends to said contactthrough the passage 96 in the collar 06, said conductor 95 beingcontained within the cable 91 and passing therefrom in the passage 39,as will be obvious from Fig. 2, a side passage 96 being provided fromthe passage 39 for the conductor 95 so as to bring the same out of themember 28. It will be seen that as the member 8 rotates relative to themember 80 and thus as the member I2 rotates or swivels on the member II, the contacts 93 and 94 will engage once during each rotation of saidparts. This is utilized as an indicating means or signal means toindicate by means of any suitable signal above the ground surfaceconnected with the proper conductor within the cable I1 and grounded tothe outer sheath of said cable II to indicate as to whether the upperand lower members of the swivel are rotating relative to each other andthus whether the apparatus is functioning properly. In fact thefrequency of the signals will indicate the conditions in the Well boreas, if any slippage of the gripping means 50 occurs, the relativerotation of the members 80 and 86 will either be retarded or will ceaseentirely. If in any case the gripping means 5 is not functioningperfectly, then the rotation induced in the upper section II due to theslight frictional resistance in bearing I and seals 84 and 9| willresult in an undesirable twist in the cable I1.

The collar '80 is provided with a longitudinal passage 98 therein, whichleads to the space between the lower end of the member 86 and the upperend of the member 00, and a valve 99 is provided thereon through whichoil under pressure, which is an electrical insulator, is inserted in thepassage 98 and all spaces in communication therewith. As the apparatuswill be in a body of water in the well bore when the drilling operationis taking place, there will be water surrounding the members 80 and 00and accordingly there will be water on the lower side of the seal 89 andoil on the upper side of said seal when the apparatus is in operation.However, it has been found that there will be no contamination of theoil and thus of its insulating and lubricating properties by upwardpassage of the moisture through the seal 09 into the body of oil,because, when the body of oil is above the body of water in the seal, nosuch intermingling of the moisture with the oil as would cause the sameto deteriorate, will take place.

A ball thrust bearing I00 is mounted between a shoulder on the lower endof the member 8 and a shoulder IOI provided at the enlargement I0 on theswivel member 90. The section I2 further comprises a tubular member I02,which is screwthreadedly connected with the head 0|, which thus servesas a coupling means between the tubular members I9 and I02. The member8| has a seat at its upper end for an insulating block I03 and has aninner tubular member I04 secured in an opening I 05 in the lowerendthereof, which communicates with the chamber I06 within the member 8|.The tubular member I02 serves as a piston chamber in which a piston I0'Iis mounted, which slides on the tubular member I04, serving as a guidefor said piston, and within the bore of the tubular member I02. Thepiston has a rearward extension I08 having an additional guide openingI09 therein cooperating with the tubular member I02. Sealing rings I I0and III are provided in suitable grooves in the piston cooperating withthe walls of the tubular members I02 and I04, respectively. A coupling II2 is screwthreadedly connected with the tubular member I02 and acompression coil spring I I3 is mounted between the rear wall 4 of thepiston I01 and the end wall I I5 of the coupling I I2. A series ofopenings H6 is provided in the tubular member I 02.

Spring biased contact members III, H8 and I I9 are mounted in theinsulating block I02, there being two of the contacts I I8 and two ofthe contacts II9 arranged substantially diametrically opposite eachother. Thus there are two contacts II9 engaging with the contact ring I8 and two contacts II8 engaging with the contact ring I1, and the singlecontact III, which is on the axis of the swivel member 40, engaging withthe contact 16. With this arrangement of contacts there will beassurance that there will always be a connection between the conductorsI20, I2I and I22, and the conductors I4, I3 and I5, respectively,through said contacts, the conductor I2I having branch conductors I23leading to the contacts I I8 and the conductor I 22 having branchconductors I24 leading to the contacts I I9. The conductors I2, I2I andI22. extend from the cable I25, which extends through the passage in thetubular member I04 and leads to the motor I5. The motor I5 is a threephase motor and the electrical energy is thus supplied to said motorfrom the cable 36 in the supporting cable I! through the cable 31 andthe cooperating contacts to the cable I25 having the conductors that'areconnected with said motor.

The coupling II2 has a passage I26 therein, which leads to a suitablepassage in the threaded end portion I2! of a member I28, which isconnected with the coupling I I2 and which is in turn connected with thesection I3. The passage I26 is provided with a stufiing box comprisingthe packing gland I29 and the layers of compressible packing I30, whichprovide a liquidtight joint around the cable I25 in said passage I20.

A chamber is thus provided that is sealed so as to retain a body ofliquid therein, which chamber includes the passage within the tubularmember I94 and the chamber between the piston I01 and the bottom endwall of the member 8I. In order to provide communication between thischamber and the chamber I06 in the member 8|, a liquid passage I3I isprovided in said member BI. The liquid chamber I 06 communicates withthe space between the tubular members II and I9 and also with the spacewithin the tubular member II and thus with the passage in the swivelmember 40. There being no seal between the member 40 and the tubularmember. I9, the space between the tubular swivel member 40 and themembers I9 and 8 up to the sealing rings 89 will also be incommunication with the other above referred to spaces. An insulating oilis injected into the spaces under pressure through the valve I33 in themember 8i and the air released through the valve l 32 in the member 80.The insulating oil is indicated by the numeral I34 in Figs. 2 and 2a.

As the drilling apparatus will be in a body of liquid containing waterwhen in operative position in the well bore the column of water abovethe openings I I6 will cause the liquid in the well bore under pressureto fill the chamber I35 back of the piston I01. However, the spring II3will further urge the piston upwardly and thus the .-pressure,-.onitheoilv I34 will be greater than the pressure. of the liquid in the chamberI35 and, accordingly, at all seals the outward pressure exerted: by thebody of -oil will be greater than the pressure of the liquid containingwater on i-the-outside of" the seals. Thus if there is any i leakage orseepage through the seals, it will be an outward seepage oroutwardleakage of oil rather 2.;than an inward passage of the liquidcontaining =-water.

The member I28 has gripping means provided T thereon thatare. ofidentical construction to the rgripping means that comprise the shoes 50above .described, except that said gripping means are of ;;greater,length. However, .the shoes 50 of said gripping-means operate in thesame manner as the shoes 50. above described, and are mounted in.a;similar manner on the member I28 so as to wcause the: same to be thrownoutwardly into -.eng agement with the well wall uponanytend- -..ency ofreverse rotation of the member I28 due to the rotation of the drill. I6.Instead of pro- *yiding a-pair of openings in the shoes for theKretaining'means, three openings 56' are provided in each of said shoes,and it is obvious that any desired number of such openings and retainingbars *or hands 62, which are the same in construction as the members 62above described, can .be; provided, dependent upon-the length of the 1gripping means and of the shoes. .are provided with lugs GIcorresponding to the lugs-6i of the shoes 50, which operate in radial:slots in ring members 467 and 21' corresponding "to. the ring members45; and 4'! previously described. The operation of the lower grippingmeans comprising the shoes 50' is exactly the same as that of the uppergripping means having the shoes 59.

. It will accordingly be seen that the torque exerted on theapparatus bythe rotary drilling operation will thus be resisted first by the shoes50' to thus reduce rotation of the section I2 to a .minimum. Furthermorethe tendency of this rotationto betransferred to the section II will beentirely eliminated due to the cooperation of the upper gripping means50 holding the section stationary and the swivel connection between..the section I I, and the section I2. Thus any -tendencyof the cable I!to twist will be entirely avoided by the combination of gripping devices,-and swivel connection between thesame provided inthis drillingapparatus.

It will be notedalso that the. seals that are .provided between twomoving. parts, where the only possibilities of leakage of liquidmightoccur, are so arranged that the outer body of liquid econtaining wateris on thelower side of the seal and the insulating oil comprising theinner body of liquid-is on the upper side of the seal. This is true ofthe seals I I0, I I I and 89.

,By the particular mounting of the pivoted shoes 50 and 50 by means ofthe bar-like member 62, a very strong connection is provided betweenthese pivoted shoes and the members on The shoes ..near' its upper endand extending :toward the cable, and a fishing neck centrally.disposedin the upper end of said casing and car- ":ried by said legs,said neck being of substantially :lesser diameter than the insidediameter of said casing and having an axial bore through which saidcable is freely threaded.

which the same are:.mounted. .The electrical connections and'contactsare all inthe bodyof insulating oil and the contacts are so constructedand arranged that there will always -be a good contact between thecooperating contact mem- 'bers for any position of the parts of theswivel connection-relative. to each other. In addition to that, meansisprovided by means of the cooperating contacts 93 and 94 to give aninstant indication or signal at the surface as to the performance of thegripping means and of the swivel I connection.

J The tubular member I8 serves as a housing for the cable clamping meansso as to prevent any damage thereto andat the same time provides a'basket for catching anything that might otherwise drop down to a pointwhere it would inter- .iere with the operation of the gripping shoes orother moving parts of the apparatus.

-Having thus describedmy invention, I claim: 1. In, combination with awell drilling :unit adapted to be suspended from a cable, a tube-like;casing adapted to be removably mounted on the fishing neck beingspacedinwardly a substantial distance from the inner wall of :saidcasing, and

a plurality of outwardlyextending earsspaced around said neck and,secured to the inner wall of said casing to reinforce the upperv marginof the receptacle and yet provide openings through which debris-canenter the receptacle.

'2. In combination with a well drilling unit pha'ving cable clampingmeans at its upper end .and adapted to. be suspended from a supporting.cable secured to said unit by said clamping nmeans; a tube-like casingadapted to be threaded .to the upper end of said unit and surrounding:said clamping means, the upper end of said -casingbeing open and theinside of the casing iiorming with the upper end of the drilling unit aclosed bottom receptacle, a plurality of spokelike: legs secured to theinside wall of the casing inwardly ARMAIS ARUTUN OFF.

References Cited. inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,624,948 Hinderliter Apr. 19,1927 2,325,503 Goble July,27,1943

